Forever

These Books Made Me

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Oh Judy Blume, you are officially our most frequently covered author on TBMM and oh my, have you ever given us some wild rides. We weren't sure what to expect when we revisited Forever, one of the most frequently challenged books of all time, but it wasn't Ralph. The first rule of the Judy Blume fan club is you do NOT talk about Ralph. Unfortunately for us, we kind of had to talk about Ralph since the whole book is about him, which might be problematic from a feminist perspective. We struggle to reconcile this book with the rest of Judy Blume's oeuvre, struggle to understand why anyone would possibly like Michael, struggle to get through a paragraph without laughing... struggle with the overuse of ellipses in the book... we just generally struggle. We discuss whether the book could have just been an educational pamphlet, dissect Michael and Kath's deeply weird relationship, and try to determine what the take home was supposed to be about Sybil. Hawa makes a shocking disclosure and Hannah is slinging zingers. It's an IUD ad, it's a teen soap opera, it'll ruin the name Ralph for you. It's Forever by Judy Blume.

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Instagram @thesebooksmademe or on Twitter @PGCMLS, with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [e-mail]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

Chapters

1. Forever (00:00:00)

2. Podcast Episode (00:00:13)

3. Discussion on Teen Relationship Dynamics (00:17:01)

4. Analyzing Themes in Teen Literature (00:26:08)

5. Judy Bloom Character Development Critique (00:38:44)

6. Discussion on Judy Blume Books (00:54:00)

7. Discussion on Book Representation in Media (00:59:35)